Is Coffee Drinking Beneficial?

You Bet Your Bottom Bean It Is!

Coffee is still one of the most consumed drinks in the world today, second only to water in popularity, coffee is the grandfather of all drinks, and how most of us start the day.

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Some Interesting Coffee Stats:

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Some Interesting Coffee Facts:

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A World Of Coffee Confusion

Even with coffee’s popularity, there’s so much confusion around coffee consumption and whether it’s actually good for you or not.

There have literally been thousands of studies on coffee drinking, and its effects on the body.

As a result, there have been few topics that create as much confusion and debate.

Then in 2018, California made it mandatory to label coffee products with cancer warnings! This act created even more confusion around this millennia-old drink.

The decision in California was not about coffee itself, but a chemical called acrylamide that’s made in very small amounts when the beans are roasted.

Then in 2019, California flipped its position and removed the mandate to label coffee with cancer warnings.

But confusion on this drink still exists.

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Meta Studies & Data Show Clear Benefit!

The best way to look at the benefits or risks of coffee by using what’s called a ‘meta-study analysis’, which is simply a very scientific peer review of all of the major coffee studies done over a period of time.

A recent large-scale meta-analysis of 127 ‘high-quality’ coffee studies revealed that drinking two to four 8-ounce cups of coffee each day results in significant health benefits. The consensus of these studies is that coffee consumption:

• Reduces your risk of cancer up to 20 percent.
• Reduces your risk of Type 2 diabetes by 30 percent.
• Reduces your risk of Parkinson’s disease by 30 percent.
• Reduces your risk of heart disease by 5 percent.

That alone is enough to qualify coffee as a superfood, but there’s more to it than that.

Almost all of the 127 studies tracked coffee-drinkers versus non-coffee-drinkers without regard for HOW the coffee-drinkers take their coffee.

In other words, some percentage – probably a pretty large percentage – of the coffee-drinkers in those studies drink coffee WITH sugar, creamers, and artificial flavorings… Even those people showed benefit from coffee!

As a result, the potential reduction in heart disease could be much, much larger than the 5 percent the meta-study reported.

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How To Reap The Best Benefits From Coffee

 

1. Know How Much To Drink

Based on various meta-studies, drinking coffee 3 – 4 times per day shows the most benefit.

It also seems from data, that your coffee can be caffeinated OR decaffeinated to still get the benefits.

How Many Cups of Coffee North American’s Drink Daily

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2. Be Aware of Caffeine

The amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee can range from 80 to over 400 mg.

Many sources suggest that 400 mg of caffeine per day as the safe upper limit for healthy adults.

Compare The Caffeine

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Coffee Reduces The Risk of Death

Talk about power! A groundbreaking study showed that drinking between 3 – 4 cups of coffee a day was associated with almost a 12% lower risk of death for males and up to 16% less for females.

The study was not small either. It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and had 402,260 individual participants, all between 50 and 71 years of age and studied them for over 13 years.

This graph shows the relationship between coffee consumption and the risk of dying during the study’s duration.

The Reduction In Death Rates Based On Coffee Consumption

Based on this study and the meta-analysis the sweet spot is between 3 and 4 cups a day of either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee

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3. When To Drink Your Coffee?

There’s also a sweet spot with timing of when to drink coffee. This is more so with caffeinated versus decaffeinated coffee.

Neuroscience Ph.D. student Steven Miller explains that in the mornings (between the hours of 8am and 9am) our cortisol levels are at their highest.

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that regulates a wide range of processes throughout the body, including metabolism and the immune response. It also has a very important role in helping the body respond to stress. Too much cortisol production is actually related to many health issues.

Cortisol isn’t just a “stress hormone”- it also modulates our alertness levels.

If we drink caffeinated coffee at the same time our alertness (cortisol levels) is already at its peak, we’re wasting the potential alertness boost we get from caffeine.

Consuming caffeinated coffee when cortisol levels are high creates two problems.

1. Caffeine can interfere with the body’s production of cortisol, and then the body ends up producing less cortisol, and relying more on caffeine to compensate.

2. The other effect of drinking caffeinated coffee in the morning is it increases the person’s tolerance to caffeine because it replaces the natural cortisol-induced boost instead of adding to it.

Bear in mind that cortisol levels are high at three times of the day, not just early in the morning.

So the best times to drink caffeinated coffee — or caffeine in general — is between 9:30 a.m. and noon, and between 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. If you drink decaf, you don’t have to follow these guidelines as closely.

Early morning, caffeinated coffee drinkers should consider adjusting their schedule to better optimize their caffeine intake. As pleasant as a cup o’ joe may be first thing in the morning, turns out it’s quite ineffective.

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4. How To Take Your Coffee

Even though there are many benefits to drinking coffee, you can quickly reduce them by adding too much sugar and creamers.

Here are a few notes for how you can optimize your coffee intake and still enjoy the taste, while preserving the health benefits.

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A. Obviously Beware of Sugar

According to the American Heart Association, the average woman should consume no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day, while the average man, being larger, should limit himself to 9 teaspoons a day.

To get the most benefit from coffee, studies show you should be drinking three to four 8-ounce cups a day.

But by adding two teaspoons of sugar to each cup  – a not uncommon amount – approaches the maximum amount of sugar that most people should consume.

As well, since many packaged foods contain sugar, those teaspoons are likely to push just about anybody into the “bad for your heart” range and increase one’s likelihood of other health issues.

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Natural Sugar Substitutes:

Raw Honey

       

Naturally, we put raw honey first, raw honey has so many wonderful health benefits.

It’s a natural antibacterial, boosts the immune system, promotes digestive health, and is high in antioxidants. 

Of course, be sure to use it in moderation — it is still very high in sugar but the body typically processes it in different ways than standard table sugar.

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Stevia

Stevia is probably one of the most well-known and popular natural sweeteners. The sweet leaves have been used by humans for hundreds of years and by diabetic patients in Asia for decades.

While it is not a significant source of nutrition, the great thing about stevia is that it will not affect blood sugar levels at all, making it a great all-natural sugar alternative for diabetics. It is also calorie-free.

Brands: SweetLeaf, OnlySweet, Stevia in the Raw

Where You’ll Find It: Tabletop sweeteners (also sold in blends with sugar, such as PureVia or Born Sweet Zing, at 8 to 10 calories per teaspoon).

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Pure Maple Syrup

Nope, not the kind with the bottle shaped like a jolly old woman. That’s not real maple syrup — check the ingredient list an you’ll see it’s mostly high fructose corn syrup with some artificial color, flavors, and sweeteners.

Pure maple syrup, on the other hand, contains only evaporated maple tree sap. It is high in manganese and zinc: 100 grams of syrup provides 22% and 3.7% of their RDVs respectively.

Manganese is necessary for several enzymes that are needed for energy production and antioxidant defenses. Zinc is essential for optimal immune system function. Deficiencies of either may lower white blood cell counts and reduce immune system responses.

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Monk fruit extract

Monk Fruit also known as luo han guo is derived from an the Asian fruit, this sugar substitute comes from ingredients that originate in nature, but it is still processed to some degree and contains no actual fruit.

Rather, its intense sweetness (about 150 to 200 times sweeter than sugar) is due to ‘mogroside’ compounds extracted from the fruit.

Monk fruit extract is heat-stable, so it can be used in cooking and baking. At least one manufacturer recommends substituting half the sugar in a recipe with the sweetening equivalence of the monk fruit sweetener.

Brands: Monk Fruit in the Raw, Purefruit

Where You’ll Find It: Monk Fruit in the Raw is available as a packaged sweetener; monk fruit extract can be found in a few foods and beverages, like no-sugar-added fruit cups, sparkling fruit beverages, and some cereals.

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Sugar Alcohols

Sugar alcohols are calorie-free carbohydrates that are chemically /similar to those found naturally in some fruits and are made from plants or trees.

Erythritol measures similarly to sugar, has a real-sugar texture and it’s the least likely of all the sugar alcohols to cause stomach upset. Xylitol can have—ahem—laxative effects at higher doses, like most sugar alcohols.

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Stay Away From Artificial Sweeteners:

Aspartame / Splenda / Sucralose

Some 200 times sweeter than sugar, a little aspartame goes a long way. It’s one of the most widely studied sweeteners, but CSPI advises steering clear—citing data shows increased cancer risk, and hormonal disruption.

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Beware of Non-Dairy, Artificial Creamers

Non-dairy, processed creamers are simply terrible. Not only do many brands contain lots of sugar, but most contain partially-hydrogenated oils and trans fats, both of which are very dangerous over time.

Artificial flavorings are also common in prepackaged ground coffees (e.g. French Vanilla).

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Creamers From Worst to Best

 

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Good Coffee Creamer Substitutes:

Coconut Milk:

Coconuts are rich in iron and calcium and lactose-free and their milk provides the same creaminess that commercial coffee creams do without all the added artificial ingredients.

Coconut milk is super simple to make yourself (two ingredients, people!) or can be bought at the store. Whether you go for the canned kind (thicker and higher in calories) or a carton from the refrigerated section (imagine the thickness of 1% milk), go for the product with the least amount of added ingredients. Ideally, you want just water and coconut.

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Almond Milk:

Almond milk is a delicious, nutty alternative to commercial coffee creamers. One cup of almond milk contains 100 percent of your B-12 requirements and 20 percent of your vitamin A and D recommendations.

You might be amazed at how easy and cost efficient it is to make homemade almond milk (again, two ingredients!), but you can buy it in the dairy aisle as well. Try vanilla or dark chocolate flavored for extra taste, but watch out for added sugars in the flavored milks.

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Real Milk and Honey:

Combining skim, 1% or 2% milk with honey will give your morning mug a sweet kick while still allowing you to know exactly what you’re drinking.

Natural sweeteners like honey or agave also maintain your blood sugar levels because they are both very low on the glycemic index. Need a little more something? Add cinnamon to your coffee for a nice flavor boost that also helps lower blood sugar.

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5. Beware of The Specialty Coffee

To make matters worse, some barista-prepared coffee drinks are spectacularly sugared.

For example, a Starbucks Venti White Chocolate Mocha With Whipped Cream contains about 18 teaspoons of sugar–the same as 2.5 cans of sugared Coke!

Check out this image of the amount of sugar in some of Starbucks most popular coffee drinks.

It compares the amount of sugar in the drink to the equivalent amount of sugar in a donut and gives you a “donuts rating”

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The Worst Coffee Drinks On The Market Today

Here is a list of some of the worst coffee drinks on the market.

Even with the health benefits of coffee, there is simply too much to overcome here to be considered even remotely healthy.

The good news is there are some great alternatives for both sugar and creamers that can make your coffee taste just as great and not impact the benefits coffee can provide.

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The Bottom Line On Coffee

With all of the studies and meta-study analysis on coffee over the past 2 decades, there is a growing belief that it’s finally a truly healthy option that has many benefits when consumed the right way, and up to 3 – 4 times per day. So get your coffee on!